Gyeongju Hwabaek Convention Center Area Selected as 1.78 Million ㎡ International Conference Complex Zone

Gyeongju Hwabaek Convention Center, designated as an international conference complex district.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Koo Dae-sun] Gyeongju City, Gyeongsangbuk-do, is emerging as a mecca for international MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions) tourism cities.

On the 16th, Gyeongju City announced that the Hwabaek Convention Center and the Bomun Tourist Complex area of 1.78 million square meters have been designated as an ‘International Conference Complex District’ by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

With this designation approval, international conference facilities and cluster facilities within the complex district will receive benefits such as exemptions from various charges including traffic inducement fees and alternative forest resource creation costs, as well as relaxed floor area ratio regulations.

Additionally, they will enjoy benefits equivalent to those of a tourism special zone (Article 70 of the Tourism Promotion Act), such as national funding support, tourism fund support through evaluation of complex district revitalization projects, and exemption from business restriction regulations.

To overcome the limitations of the existing tourist complex, Gyeongju City proposed a differentiated strategy linking future industries such as nuclear power and future automobiles with international conferences, in addition to historical, cultural, and tourism resources, to attract international conferences. The city also received high evaluations from the judging panel for its differentiated implementation plan, including operating its own international conference support system targeting the convention center and cluster facilities.

Following this complex district designation, Gyeongju City expects to gain further momentum in attracting the 2025 APEC Summit through expansions such as the Hwabaek Convention Center extension for hosting large-scale exhibitions and events.

Moreover, as the international conference industry is a representative high value-added tourism industry, it is expected to create employment by attracting large numbers of foreign tourists and have significant ripple effects on related industries such as hotels and shopping.

The Gyeongju International Conference Complex District will be finalized upon the official announcement by the Governor of Gyeongsangbuk-do.

Mayor Joo Nak-young of Gyeongju said, “The MICE industry is likened to a golden goose laying golden eggs, a smokeless industry with great value-added creation effects,” and added, “Taking this international conference complex district designation as an opportunity, we will focus all administrative efforts to attract large-scale international conferences such as the 2025 APEC Summit and become a representative Gyeongju-type MICE city of Korea.”

The international conference complex districts have increased to seven locations with the addition of Gyeongju and Daejeon conventions, following Incheon Songdo, Gwangju Kim Dae-jung Convention, Gyeonggi Goyang, Busan BEXCO, and Daegu EXCO.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.